Bryan Cranston Drops F-Bomb On Trump Foes: ‘I Want Him To Succeed’

Bryan Cranston seems to think that people should “tread lightly,” as his alter ego Walter White might say, when it comes to criticizing U.S. President Donald Trump, even though he was vocally critical of the former real estate mogul during the 2016 election. The actor implied that Trump foes who want his administration to be a failure don’t have the best interests of the country at heart.

Hillary Clinton supporter Cranston played White (a.k.a. Heisenberg), the high school chemistry teacher turned meth kingpin, on AMC’s award-winning series Breaking Bad, which ran for five seasons from 2008 to 2013. Cranston won four Emmys for his Breaking Bad leading role. As fans recall, the original tread lightly line was meant as a warning to the ill-fated DEA agent and Walter White brother-in-law Hank Schrader (Dean Norris) in a key scene near the end of Breaking Bad.

The versatile stage and screen actor is currently promoting his new film, Last Flag Flying, in which he portrays a Marine veteran of the Vietnam War.

In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Bryan Cranston seemed to have changed his tune about Trump, tossing an F-bomb at those who oppose the president no matter what, for good measure.

“President Trump is not the person who I wanted to be in that office, and I’ve been very open about that. That being said, he is the president. If he fails, the country is in jeopardy. It would be egotistical for anyone to say, ‘I hope he fails.’ To that person I would say, f*** you. Why would you want that? So you can be right?”

[Image by Lewis Jacobs/AMC]

In a plea for unity, Cranston continued that he wants Trump to govern successfully, which is far from the prevailing opinion in Hollywood.

“I don’t want him to fail. I want him to succeed. I do. I honestly do. … And if you’ve got a good idea that helps the country, oh man, I’m gonna support you. I don’t care if you’re a Republican and I’m a Democrat or whatever, I don’t care. A good idea’s a good idea. Let’s do that. We’ve got to get away from this idea that our country is political football, and someone with a different opinion is the enemy. Assume they love this country as much as you do, and there’s always room for improvement. How can we make it better?”

In his long career in the pre-politics media spotlight as a real estate mogul and host of the NBC Apprentice franchise, Donald Trump — a former Democrat and independent who ran for president as a first-time candidate on the Republican ticket — regularly mingled with celebrities and they with him. It was only after he became a candidate that he fell out of favor for a variety of reasons with many of those in the entertainment industry. Since taking office, Trump has tangled with Democrats and “Never Trump” Republicans as well as the GOP establishment, along with large segments of the mainstream media and the entertainment industry.

Among his many acting credits, apparent Trump supporter Bryan Cranston starred on the sitcom Malcom in the Middle and also had a recurring role as the quirky dentist Tim Whatley on Seinfeld.